From Jennifer Ashley, With Love

  Amber drew a long breath. “Thank you for all you’ve done.”

  Adrian’s brows rose. “Got you trapped in an ice cave and nearly killed by a demon?”

  She laughed. “You know what I mean. Thank you for coming into my life.” She kissed him lightly on the lips, then turned away, squaring her shoulders. “All right,” she said. “I’m ready.”

  * * *

  Adrian’s feelings were mixed as Amber moved away from him to help her coven reinforce the circle. The reveling witches settled down and moved to the quarters to begin the more serious spell.

  First he was excited. Adrian felt stoked, the coupling with Amber having raised his power to a height he’d never before experienced. The magic tingled through his limbs and along his scalp, even the roots of his hair thrummed with power. He was ready, itching to begin.

  Amber’s kiss before she turned away had held a note of finality. She was telling him good-bye, because she thought he’d leave her after the spell. What Amber didn’t understand was that Adrian was bound to her now. It had nothing to do with the God and the Goddess using him, nothing to do with what Isis wanted. It had everything to do with what was in Adrian’s heart. Amber had sealed her fate a long time back in the warehouse, when she’d lifted a tawny gaze filled with challenge to him.

  They couldn’t have forever, because Amber was mortal, and it would hurt like hell when Adrian lost her, but he would take what he could. Drink of the cup of life, as the Beltane celebrations told him to. He would not avoid joy in order to avoid grief.

  Beyond the circle, the night had deepened. The younger children were being herded into houses, protesting all the way, but the smallest ones were already asleep in the arms of parents. The adults, on the other hand, brought out more wine and beer and settled in to enjoy themselves, city people celebrating an ancient farmers’ ritual. Adrian had fought all day to protect people like these, so they could enjoy their night in peace.

  The Calling spell was fairly simple. The coven needed to join hands and chant the ritual—enhanced if they wished with crystals and candles. But not just anyone could stand and say the words that Called an Immortal. It took power—power that only experienced and strong witches like Amber and Susan and the witches in the Coven of Light possessed.

  Each witch in the circle held in cupped hands a crystal to use as a conduit for the Coven of Light. Valerian and Sabina were let into the circle to enhance the spell with their ambient life magic.

  Amber stood at the head of the circle with Adrian. All power would fuse through the two of them as Amber read the spell.

  The witches were nervous but excited. Adrian tasted crackling energy in the air. Amber slipped her hand into his and smiled at him, her face framed by the silk streamers of her crown.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  “More than ready,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady. He held her hand firmly, letting her fingers squeeze into his. “The question is, are you ready for my brothers? I think you should know—I’m the nice one.”

  Her smile widened. “I’ll risk it.”

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Adrian spoke casually, but he shook inside. Confronting his brothers wouldn’t be easy, but at the same time, he looked forward to it. He hadn’t had a good argument with Darius the arrogant warrior in a long time, and truth to tell, he missed that.

  A hush fell, and all gazes turned expectantly to Amber. She closed her eyes, lifting the stone she held in her right hand to head height. Adrian sent his own magic into her, a little bit at first, gradually building up. A few weeks ago, he wouldn’t have dared, fearing to hurt her. He’d learned her strength, and the Coven of Light also held strength. As long as Adrian held on to Amber and grounded her, she’d be all right.

  Amber began speaking the simple words. “I summon thee.” She cleared her throat and began again, her voice more solid. “I summon thee, warriors of light, across seas and deserts, across woods and hills. Hear me, for our need is great.”

  A faint breeze sprang up in the branches above, rustling leaves, streamers, and ribbons. The crystals in the witches’ hands began to glow, the Coven of Light adding their power from afar.

  Amber’s voice grew stronger. “I summon thee—by Isis, by Kali, by Sekhmet, and by Uni. By earth and fire, water and air, I Call you!”

  The breeze died. A darkness began to settle outside the circle, obscuring the people and the fires.

  Adrian squeezed Amber’s hand. “Keep going.”

  Amber closed her eyes, drew another breath, and continued the chant. “By the power of the Mother Goddess and of the Horned God, I invoke thee to help us in our time of need. Thou who were created to aid against the powers of Death, gifted with the strongest powers of Life, I summon thee to me!”

  Amber shouted the last word, a burst of magic arcing from her lips to shoot into the sky. A gust of wind whipped through the clearing, billowing robes and Adrian’s cloak, ringing wind chimes on houses all along the green.

  Then the wind died and all was silence.

  The sounds of the party drifted back to them, the people carrying on without noticing what the odd witches did in their flower strewn circle. Even Kelly chatted with one of Amber’s neighbors, not paying the least attention.

  “Damn it,” Adrian said softly.

  Amber looked around in disappointment. “It didn’t work.”

  “Try it again,” Adrian answered. “Sometimes my brothers need to be kicked in their lazy butts.”

  “Maybe I’m not a strong enough witch,” Amber said in a reasonable tone. “Maybe one of the others of the Coven of Light should say the words.”

  Adrian shook his head. “No one else in the Coven of Light was infused by the Goddess tonight. And you have me, and every bit of my magic you need. Try it again.”

  Amber gazed at him a moment, her golden eyes beautiful. He kissed her softly on the lips. “Go on,” he said.

  Amber nodded, swallowing. Standing straighter, she lifted her hands and began the words again. “By Isis, by Uni, by Kali, by Sekhmet . . . I invoke thee to our need!”

  The stones glowed again, darkness settling once more outside the circle.

  Amber’s power surged in a sudden wave, every bit of magic given to her by the Goddess releasing in thunderstorm fury. Adrian poured his life magic into Amber at the same time, bracing against the backlash through their joined hands.

  Amber’s eyes glowed like the sun, magic from them slicing through the circle’s blue nimbus to the sky. Amber raised her hands to the heavens. Her voice rolled out of her with a deep note that shook the earth.

  “I summon thee to ME!”

  White light shot from stone to stone in the startled witches’ hands to meet with a crash in the middle of the circle. The whiteness whirled around itself before it solidified into a luminous spear and joined the golden light pouring from Amber. The spear jumped from her and hurtled itself upward, ripping open the night sky.

  The tear burst into brilliance, the noise of it deafening. Adrian clung to Amber’s hand, his power flowing out of himself into her, then from her to the rip in the fabric of reality. Fires around them leapt to meet the sky.

  Faces appeared in the tear—Darius, grimacing in pain, Hunter snarling. Each disappeared as soon as he formed.

  Come on. Come on.

  The tear shrank. Amber clenched her fist, her face twisting in concentration as she willed the Immortals to come to her.

  Amber’s strength increased, buoyed by Adrian’s power and the power of the Coven of Light. The hole in the darkness enlarged again, and in it Adrian saw Tain’s face, his youngest brother compelled to respond to the spell he’d been created for. If Tain would come, and his brothers, they could take him now and all would be at an end.

  Tain’s face was broken and bloody, blood leaking from his eyes as he put up his hand to try to stop the spell. Hunter coalesced again, his face taking on a what the fuck? look before he disappeared once more.

  Then the demon came.
His unnaturally handsome face blotted out Tain’s, and darkness burst into the bright void. He put out his hand, and Amber screamed.

  Amber’s hand was jerked from Adrian’s as her body rocketed upward toward the hole. Adrian grabbed for her, but she shot away from him, tangled in tendrils of dark magic. The demon wrapped those tendrils around her, crushing.

  Amber’s scream was cut off and her body went suddenly, and horribly, limp. The demon flung her away from him. She crashed through the white and blue light of the circle, her body stiff and unmoving, before she slammed to the ground twenty feet from Adrian and the witches. At the same time, the witches cried out, their white stones bursting one after another with the sharp staccato of popping glass.

  The demon made a sharp gesture. The tear in space, the tenuous faces of the Immortals, and the Calling spell exploded.

  Shards of the spell burst outward, glittering against the black air. They rained into the magic circle, diving like knives for the witches, who scrambled clear. The circle was broken, the magic destroyed.

  Adrian grabbed his sword and launched himself upward at the shrinking hole in the sky, propelling himself on a surge of magic. Around him, the remaining slivers of the spell splintered into smaller and smaller fragments, and finally dissolved into mist.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Adrian latched on to the demon’s lower body, gritting his teeth as he struggled to pull the bastard down. The demon lashed out, a knife between his fingers, catching Adrian across the knuckles.

  Adrian never felt the sting. His berserker instincts took over, and he fought as he had in the ice cave, relentlessly hacking at the demon with his sword, blasting out with his own magic.

  The demon struggled to get away, and Adrian tasted triumph. If he could kill the effing demon, he could Call Tain and his brothers back and begin helping Tain without interference.

  Adrian smacked the demon’s face with the hilt of his sword, liking the feel of bone crunching under the blow. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Valerian morph into his dragon form, and smiled when Valerian’s huge face snaked around to look the demon in the eye.

  “Mmm, demon snack.”

  Adrian continued to grapple with the demon, holding hard when the demon tried to twist free. The demon launched a stream of darkness at Valerian, shoving the dragon backward. Valerian roared in rage, beating his wings for balance. Valerian couldn’t flame the demon without also blasting Adrian, so he reached in with one huge, clawed fist, wrapped it around the demon’s body, and started to crush.

  The demon laughed, and darkness exploded from him. Death magic shot up Valerian’s foreleg, wrapping around it, and penetrated his chest like a lance. Valerian recoiled and dropped the demon. Valerian’s huge mouth opened and closed, the dragon gasping for air, his wings ceasing to beat.

  Adrian wrapped his arms around the demon again as Valerian dropped to the ground. Valerian morphed back into a man along the way and landed with a sickening crunch. Sabina in wolf form skimmed across the ground to him.

  Adrian raised his sword. Rage filled him along with the residual light from the Calling spell. Death magic glanced off him, bolts of it shredding his clothes but springing back from the nimbus that covered Adrian. The demon looked worried, and Adrian laughed as he lifted Ferrin for the killing stroke.

  “Adrian,” Kelly screamed below him. “Amber is dead!”

  Adrian looked down for one split second to see Kelly on the edge of the circle, its flowers torn and scattered. Her model-perfect face held shock, tears glittering in the red strobe light of the ambulance behind her. Men in dark clothes and reflective tape rushed a stretcher toward Amber’s form, which lay still upon the ground.

  The demon kicked Adrian in the face, wrested himself free of Adrian’s strangling hold, and dove upward into the closing hole. Adrian felt the demon slip from his grasp, but all he could see was a man kneeling over Amber’s twisted body, her trailing robes stirring in the light breeze.

  The hole in space closed with a crushing sound. White light flared once, then it was gone.

  Adrian fell. Wind whipped past him, and Ferrin hissed. At the last minute Adrian put out his hand, using a shaft of white magic to slow himself to land without harm.

  Then he was striding across the grass, unaware his feet were moving. Faster and faster he ran, passing Sabina who wept over Valerian’s broken and motionless body. Detective Simon was striding from a police car, his bulk coming fast. Simon and Adrian met over Amber’s body as one of the EMTs pronounced Amber dead at the scene. Simon regarded Adrian over the stretcher, his square face like thunder.

  Adrian barely saw him. Ferrin, still a sword, fell with a muffled thud as Adrian dropped to his knees beside Amber.

  She lay still, her face gray and bloodless in the glaring lights of the emergency vehicles. Dead. The word hammered through Adrian’s brain. Her heart didn’t beat, her blood didn’t flow, and her life essence was gone.

  Adrian unbuckled her from the stretcher, brushing away the men who tried to stop him. He lifted Amber against his chest, his body more hollow and empty than it had ever been in his long life. He’d lost mortal humans he’d cared about before this, but he’d felt only a sadness at their passing, not an all-consuming, gut-clenching grief.

  Adrian sensed darkness beside him, but it was Septimus kneeling, careful to keep his pristine slacks from the mud. Adrian realized dimly that the demon had washed so much death magic over the faded festivities that other dark-magic creatures could now emerge to cause trouble.

  “Adrian,” Septimus was saying in his low, cultured voice. “I can bring her back.” His fangs touched red lips, his eyes glowing faintly with anticipation of a Turning.

  Adrian hesitated only a moment. If he gave Amber to Septimus, she’d live again, in a way, and she’d be nearly as strong and immortal as Adrian. He could be with her forever.

  But she’d be undead, a creature of death magic. She’d sicken of Adrian and his constant wash of life magic, and her love would eventually turn to loathing. She’d become the same as the female vampires in Septimus’s club, sensual beings who lived to taste blood and have sex with their victims while they drank them.

  “No,” Adrian said.

  “Better than losing her altogether, isn’t it?”

  “No.” Adrian’s voice grew sharp. He rose, lifting Amber in his arms, jerking her from the angry Detective Simon. “Septimus, hand me my sword.”

  Septimus picked up Ferrin gingerly between his fingers, as though he could barely stand to touch it. Adrian gripped the hilt as he held Amber and used the blade to slice open the night.

  A slit appeared, faint light flowing through it. “Isis!” Adrian shouted. “Let me in!”

  She didn’t always. Adrian hadn’t been home in so long, he wondered if he could truly get back there.

  The slit trembled, a silver glow appeared in it, and Septimus moved rapidly away from it. As Detective Simon watched him, rage on his face, Adrian walked with Amber through the opening.

  The night disappeared behind him as though it had never existed. Cool ocean air greeted him, a sun rising beyond a wooden Japanese-like terrace and a white sand beach. Home. Ravenscroft.

  Adrian took Amber inside his house and laid her on a low bunk on the woven matting floor. She remained motionless, her breath gone. Dead. Adrian gently removed the garland and ribbon crown she still wore and straightened her robes with a shaking hand.

  “Isis,” Adrian called softly. He knelt next to Amber, laid his head on her unmoving breast, and waited.

  After a time, he wasn’t sure how long, Adrian lifted his head to see the sun full in the sky and Isis standing on the edge of the matting. Her translucent Egyptian wrap hugged her body, and gold bracelets clasped her arms.

  Isis glided to Adrian and rested her hands on his head. “You grieve, my son. It is natural.”

  “It isn’t natural at all,” Adrian said in a harsh voice. “Give her back to me. You can.”

  Isis shook her hea
d. “She is mortal. They end.”

  Adrian’s face was wet with tears he didn’t remember spilling. He wiped them away and found his hand smeared with blood.

  “In thousands of years, this is the first time I’ve ever found happiness. You could at least let me taste it for five minutes.”

  “And what would you do with it?” Isis asked in her contralto voice. “This five minutes of happiness?”

  “Love her. Be good to her. Do anything in the world for her.”

  “And if it is best for her to die?”

  Adrian growled. “Cease the cryptic goddess speeches. You know I love her. You know what she means to me. When you lost Osiris, you didn’t cease until you found him and brought him back to life. I need her in my life. Do this for me.”

  Isis watched him in silence. Adrian placed his hand on Amber’s still chest, missing the beating of her heart, of her life. He leaned to kiss her forehead, his lips trembling.

  “What will you give up?” Isis asked him.

  Her eyes resembled his, dark and fathomless, thoughts behind them that couldn’t be read.

  “Immortality,” Adrian snapped. “Power. Magic. Whatever you want.”

  “It would be difficult for you, adjusting to mundane life without your magic. You might grow to hate your existence.”

  “So I’ll learn to use a can opener and take out the trash,” Adrian said in a harsh voice. “I’ll be with her. That’s the difference.”

  Isis shook her head. “I need you to remain Immortal, Adrian. I need you for what’s to come. Your brothers will help, but you must be in place in the end, to help Tain.”

  More tears trickled from Adrian’s eyes. “And for that you’ll let Amber die?”

  “I asked what you would give up. You told me immortality and your great power. Let me choose something more difficult. Give up Tain. Step back and let your brothers take on the quest to find him. Heal Amber, teach her, love her. Let Tain go.”

  Adrian swallowed. “The others are so angry at him. They’ll hurt him.”

  “They might.”